Final Meetings Announced

It’s the final stretch for Ranson’s new zoning options, the update of our Comprehensive Plan, and the brownfield redevelopment plans addressed during fall, 2011 public meetings.

The finish line draws closer by the day, as a newly-announced series of hearings allows for presentation of final drafts, comment, and consideration by city officials. The complete schedule can be found here. All interested residents are welcome to attend.

To get up to speed before the hearings, review the proposed Comprehensive Plan update, the new zoning code option, and the full report from the September workshops here. Or you can review them in person at City Hall during regular office hours.

To get us to this stage in the process, residents, property owners and business folks have collaborated with staff and elected officials of both Ranson and Charles Town. There have been workshops and seminars, show-and-tell design reviews and presentations by the consulting team. There was even an historic joint working session for the Ranson and Charles Town Councils. To follow the entire process, check out the posts preceding this one.

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From September 8 through the 14th, 2011, we as a community charted the course for our next century.

In an unprecedented week-long mega-workshop, city officials, residents, business community and a team of international consultants considered ideas and actions to help guide Ranson, Charles Town, and Jefferson County towards a future rich in opportunity for our families and businesses.

The Ranson-Charles Town community was selected by HUD, DOT and EPA to serve as a national model for how small rural cities on the fringe of a major metropolitan area can foster sustainable economic development, transit, and community livability through targeted and strategic planning and infrastructure investments.

To facilitate this transformative change, planning funds facilitated the following linked and interdependent project components:

+ Develop a new zoning overlay district for downtown, as well as undeveloped, outlying areas of the Cities;

+ Redesign the Fairfax Boulevard-George Street Corridor into a "complete street" with green infrastructure, to promote a better transportation route for pedestrians, cyclists, and transit;

+ Design a new regional Charles Washington Commuter Center in downtown Charles Town that will facilitate access to regional rail and bus transit systems for Ranson, Charles Town and Jefferson County; and

+ Create a master plan for downtown Ranson that spurs job growth and economic development in former dilapidated manufacturing sites.

This archival site tells the story of that process.

“We couldn’t be happier about the way this is shaping up,” said Ranson Mayor A. David Hamill at the time. “It is our goal to continue evolving Ranson into a vibrant community where residents can live, work, and recreate within cohesive neighborhoods."

"Exciting things are beginning to happen, and I expect the coming years to be even more exciting as the real work begins.”